Term ended Jan 11, 2026 · High confidence
20-year base term ended Jan 11, 2026
USPTO later recorded it as expired for non-payment on Oct 26, 2026.
Held by Cochlear Limited
Filed Jan 12, 2012 as application 13/349,443 · Granted Sep 23, 2014
Base term, 20 years from filing
Today
Term ended Jan 11, 2026
2006
2026
Clock starts
Jan 11, 2006
Jan 11, 2006
Term ended
Jan 11, 2026
Jan 11, 2026
Granted
Sep 23, 2014
Sep 23, 2014
base term
after the term ends
fee events
Updated Nov 15, 2026 · includes USPTO assignment & status data published Nov 15, 2026 and grant & fee data published Nov 10, 2026 (weekly) · how we know
None
Term adjustment
No prosecution delay on this record.
None
Terminal disclaimer
No disclaimer on this record.
2 of 2
Maintenance fees paid
Two maintenance fees can end this term early, the ones due 3.5 and 7.5 years from grant; the third one's grace period runs past the term end. This counts the ones the record shows paid.
4
Family applications on record here
Applications sharing this one's continuity chain whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
This patent's term is its 20-year base term, with no adjustment for prosecution delay. Confidence: High. from the record
How we calculated this date
One row per rule, each showing its own input and what it did to the date. A step we could not verify says so instead of resolving itself.
| Step | Input | Date after this step | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base term, 20 years from filing | Clock starts Jan 11, 2006, when application 11/330,788, the earliest non-provisional in its chain, was filed (this one was filed Jan 12, 2012) | Jan 11, 2026 | High confidence |
| Continuity chain | Every parent in the chain resolved | no change | High confidence |
| Patent term adjustment | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Terminal disclaimer cap | None on record | no cap applied | High confidence |
| Patent term extension | None on file | no change | High confidence |
| Fee events | 2 of 2 maintenance fees paid | term ended | High confidence |
| USPTO status record | Recorded as expired for non-payment on Oct 26, 2026, after the term ended | no change | High confidence |
| Computed term end | The steps above, in order | Jan 11, 2026 | High confidence |
This family
| US 7,775,964 | In force Jun 2029 | Jun 2029 |
| US 8,096,937 | In force Dec 2029 | Dec 2029 |
| Application PCT/US2007/085787 | PCT application no patent term | no patent term |
| US 8,840,540 | this patent Jan 2026 | Jan 2026 |
The applications whose file history this site holds. The family may have others.
Assignments
Assignment documents as recorded at the USPTO, oldest first, with the reel and frame each was recorded at. A recorded assignment is a filed document, not a statement of current ownership, and the absence of a later one is not evidence that the last one still stands.
| Recorded | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 28, 2012 Reel 27942, frame 903 | Miller, Scott Allan, III | Otologics, LLC | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
| Oct 3, 2012 Reel 29072, frame 647 | Otologics, L.l.c. | Cochlear Limited | Assignment of Assignor's Interest |
Sources
Google Patents · The patent document at USPTO · Assignment records at USPTO
USPTO account required: This application in Patent Center · USPTO's maintenance fee lookup
Maintenance fee events come from USPTO's own fee records. Its fee lookup asks for the patent number and the application number.
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Alerts on its grants, lapses and transfers.
Citations
11
later US patents cite this one
That is above the median of utility patents granted in 2014 in our data, the only group it is compared against.
How we rank
Every date shows its work: the base term, any term adjustment or extension, any disclaimer cap, and the maintenance fee record, each with a confidence tier. How this record was built
Computed patent terms end on the dates shown. Related patents and pending applications may cover overlapping subject matter.